Whew! That is all I can say.

What a whirlwind weekend. I have officially become the "mom chauffeur". Between the two kids this weekend, we had 1 tap class, 1 baseball game (that got cancelled due to rain), 1 Science Fair, 3 birthday parties (one being a sleepover in the next County over) and 1 bridal shower. I used a 1/2 tank of gas within 24 hours and drove between two different counties twice and from one end of Sonoma County to the very other end. Whew! I am pooped! 

While we normally are not so indulgent with the kids and do require them to pick and choose select activities... all these parties were must-attend parties that all happened to fall on the same weekend. I was on a mission all last week to make sure all the gifts were chosen and wrapped by Friday afternoon. Three of the gifts were created and designed by Princess while I provided some help crocheting and sewing them. These projects were custom to each birthday girl and have been going on for the last 4 weeks. I LOVE that Princess wanted to create her gifts. They came out fabulous. My next blog post will be all about the fun we had making these custom gifts. I am just very happy they are all done, wrapped and delivered. Each birthay girl LOVED the gift. Princess knocked it out the park with her idea and I am VERY happy they are all done, wrapped and delivered. Oh whoops.. Did I already say that? 

This is how my day started! Not a good sign....

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache. Not a good sign for the day to come. I knew I needed a cup of coffee pronto, especially since I had a morning reserved for the cable guy to come fix our Uverse for the 2nd. time in two weeks. A different issue each visit. I am starting to think our house is becoming the Bermuda Triangle. Each week it seems that an electronic item or appliance is breaking and requiring a fix or a replaceement. It is getting old quickly. Now my car is doing goofy electronic things too. Great! 

With my headache raging, I headed downstairs to get my coffee of the day. But nope - my wonderful, faithful Keurig turned it's back on me this morning. Yep! It did. So sad for me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Keurig but every six months or so it clogs up and requires a thorough 4-hour vinegar steeping cleaning. I HATE HATE HATE my Keurig on these random days. It ALWAYS picks the worst day to clog and not work. ALWAYS. Without fail. Not only do I not get a cup of coffee, I need to run to the store to buy a gallon jug of vinegar and then spend the time cleaning it so I have it for the next day. Because I can sometimes go down the path of anticipating the worst, I also stand in front of the Keurig and wonder if our relationship is finally done. Kaput! Over like that. My Keurig is getting up there in age and I know the day is coming soon  that I will have to put it out to pasture and buy a newer version. 

Cheers to caffeine-free day paired with a raging headache and the smell of vinegar wafting through the house. :-( 

"Only call me if you have called 911 first"

I found this post in my 'draft' file. It's from several years ago as my kids (and husband) are at different stages in life and responsibility but I think it's a good story worth still telling. 

Those are my parting words to my husband every time I leave the house for 'adult time, girls time, sanity time, whatever you would like to call it'. I learned many years ago that that statement is necessary because Dear Husband would call me on a whim....to ask where something was, what to feed the kids for dinner, to talk down a tantruming child, just to test me to see if I will answer my cellphone. If I didn't answer the cellphone then he would continue to call to get his point across. When I would finally hear it while buried in my purse, he would forget what he had initially called me for and just chew me out that I wasn't available on his whim. It got old real quick and so it began with my parting words when I dared to leave the house. "Only call me if you have already called 911 first!". 

I learned this past Saturday (many years ago at time of this post) that I have failed in one aspect of being the 'manager' of our house. I had taken it for granted that Dear Husband would know who to call in an emergency and what hospital to head for. I was out getting my hair colored and I was sitting down to let the hair dye ripen on my head on the sofa at the salon. The receptionist walks over to me with the salon phone and hands it to me. First thoughts in my head 'Oh Jeez, Pirate is having a meltdown and I have been called to talk him down. Now I am going to get an earful about not hearing my phone'. Nope that's not what happened. I pick up the phone and the first thing Dear Husband says is "What hospital do I take Princess to?"  What?, What did you just say? What is is wrong?! "What hospital do I take Princess to?" - He states again, ignoring my repeated question. I raise my voice and repeat 'What happened to her?"

He tells me she fell and is bleeding all over the place. I then ask if he needs to call 911. Nope, he just doens't know what hospital to go to. Let me stop my story here and explain the hospital options in our community. They are not complicated or confusing. Actually my Dear Husband has always been quite (or should I say VERY) opinionated about the hospitals in our community. We have three choices, one being a Kaiser and we are not Kaiser members, so that in not an option. That leaves us two options. One is a community hospital that is deserate need of a revamp and tthe other is a privately owned hospital that my Dear Husband, all his siblings and our children were born at. Hmmmm... And he asks which hospital to take Princess to????? Really???? Where did I fail on this information? Did I just assume that he would know that answer. I don't know my point to my story but I think it is kinda ironic and it makes me smile just a bit that my Dear Husband can excel in his professional life yet when the going gets rough in our simple home life, he doesn't think too clearly. Going forward now, when I leave the house for some much needed ME time, I say my typical "Only call me if you have called 911 first, and then I remind him our choice of hospital. Bless his sweet heart. xoxox

New favorite thing! The Manila Tag

I get super excited when I find something extra versatile and funky! I am not a very crafty person. I can execute an idea but never ever come up with some great idea on my own. I have to admit that my projects never come out looking as pretty and finished as the original photo of the craft.

These are super cool. I use for them for tons of things! Let's see... gift tags for presents and home baked food items, "in case I am lost" kid neck tags for the kids with my name and cell number on them (not for use everyday - lol! Perfect for a trip to Six Flags or a day trip to the city.), Princess used them for her admission lanyards to her annual American Girl Sleepover recently. I have also used them to label a favorite stuffed animal when it heads to school for pajama day or a sleepover. We stamp or color or glue on them to make them very unique and pretty.

I have only had these for a few months so we are still discovering what else we can use for them. More ideas to come in a future post!

A Hip-Hip-Hooray kinda-a-day

Ok, you might think Momma has fallen off her rocker for this post. I like to celebrate the simple joys within life, so I must share why I came super close to breaking into a celebration dance right in the middle of an aisle at my local Costco this afternoon. For any mom that has a family member that has a food sensory issue, you just might relate to my joy. My sweet Pirate boy has the most, I really mean THE MOST, acute sense of taste and smell. Some day this little guy is going to make millions from his taste buds & sniffer. His ability is truly amazing and continues to blow us away. I sure hope he remembers (I will be sure he does!) when he is older, all the grief he puts us thru now with this 'ability'. With the millions he will make from the sniffer, he can treat his mom to a house with a hot tub in her old age!

By now I am sure you are quietly saying to yourself, "what does this have to do with Costco?" Ok. Back to my story. 

Since last August, our two local Costcos stopped carrying Skippy Extra Crunchy aka... the blue lid peanut butter. At first, no big deal. I bought the Kirkland Old-fashioned Crunchy instead. The next day I packed Pirate his Cheezits (I know- not super healthy! Remember I am dealing with a super skinny little man that won't eat hardly anything) with the new peanut butter slathered on the Cheezits to make cute little cracker sandwiches. I was extra careful that he did not see me make the cracker sandwiches in the morning because he would know I didn't use the peanut butter with the blue lid. Right after school that day, he came out of class and told me something was wrong with his peanut butter and it wasn't what he likes. Geez! What the heck. I had just spent $10.00 on 2 large jars of this new peanut butter and he won't eat it. Great... but not surprised. Pretty much the story of my life with him. 

Since that day, we have had to shop around and buy his Blue Lid peanut butter where ever we can. Since Pirate only eats about 5 things, we go thru lots and lots of PB and it gets quite expensive if you buy it someplace other than in bulk at Costco. Every month since last August during my monthly shop at Costco I look for the blue lid and they don't have it. I also complain to them each & everytime as I am checking out thru the cashier too. They just look at me like "seriously?".

So I did my usual swoop thru the PB aisle today while planning in my head which store I would have to stop at to pay the big bucks for a super small jar of PB. But today I had to blink twice becasue there it was.... Tah-dah! An entire pallet of 48oz Extra Crunchy Skippy. I could have cried. Yes - no exaggeration. 

Once again, another simple little joy to my day - the blue lid peanut butter. And if any buyer from Costco ever comes across this post - this note is to you: Kids like Skippy, they don't like the oily old-fashioned peanut butter. I know it is more natural but kids are kids and most times they dictate what the parents buy on a regular basis. So please don't ever stop carrying Extra Crunchy Skippy peanut Butter again. Amen!

My new 'friend'

So, I have this friend. Her name is Kimberly Taylor.

She has great taste, cooks amazing meals, decorates beautifully, and has the best outfits and makeup tips. She and I exchange our ideas everyday. She is always there, lending a helpful tip or encouraging phrase for the day's challenges. We seem to have very parallel interests and likes.

I have no idea how old she is, how many kids she has, if she is married or even what state she lives in. For all I know... she could be in the same town as me or clear across the USA. You wonder how I know her? She is my bestest friend on Pinterest. Every time I jump onto Pinterest, she is always right there. How she and I began following each other's boards is a mystery for me. We aren't friends on Facebook and as far as I know, we do not have any common 'friends'.

The world has changed so much, so fast. What will it be like when my kids have their grandchildren? Will they be telling stories about the good ole' days and how they remember a 'mailman' delivering the mail each day? Much like the intrigue I had as a child hearing about the 'milkman'. Will they have friends that are 'virtual'... nothing more, nothing less. Are these the new 'penpals' for my kiddos' generation. (As one of my kids is asking me "what is a penpal? And why would you write a letter and mail it if we can just email them or post to their Facebook." Oh Lordy!) 

We finally have our Art Gallery

Have you ever wished for something but it wasn't a necessity, so you never made it a priority? (wow! what a run-on sentence that is!)

Since my kiddos started their school careers, my kids have been coming home with some fabulous completed art projects. I am not saying my kids are the next Vincent Van Gogh or Matisse. What I am saying is that with the lack of money to teach art in the schools, Pinterest has come to the rescue. The art projects are terrific and above & beyond what I was ever was taught or inspired to create in elementary school.

I have been challenged to find a place to honor their masterpieces and not litter up the refrigerator & essentially devaluing their creations. I had the Wall. I had the Vision. I had the Artwork..... but I never found exactly what I was looking for. That all came to an end the other day when it arrived beautifully packaged on my front doorstep. Tah-dah! Here it is! Today is a very exciting day for me. (It isn't my style to attach so much happiness to a non-living thing but I have made an exception for this!)

The concept of this wonderful frame is that it is a rotating art gallery... sometime displaying both kids' art, sometimes featuring just one masterpiece. The one rule is that no one's feelings get hurt when the current art show rotates to highlight some new item(s). We all admire and praise each others work. The intention is to allow each kiddo to showpiece, what they consider, their best artwork and my goal is to have something fun and funky, that is colorful and ever-changing on our wall.. Mission accomplished x2.

The moral to my little story is... Sometimes the simplest or smallest things can make us so happy and  bring joy to us. Today is one of those days for me.